Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, the weasely little driver’s intentions were obvious, as he furtively glanced at the meter every half second and licked his lips, driving as slowly and legally as possible, decelerating at every traffic light to insure a red light, adopting the cloak of a model citizen as he never sounded his horn or cut off another car or motorbike, nor once swerved recklessly around pedestrians, all to maximize the meter charge on the relatively short 6 km drive from the bus stop to the train station.
We had planned on taking the 3 hour train from Ninh Binh to
Hanoi at 6:00 AM, but when we arrived at the station at 5:30 in the morning, we
were informed the train was full and wasn’t stopping, despite the fact the
computer had printed our ticket the night before. As we stood around debating
our next move, a local bus drove by and we got on, and two hours later were deposited
in Hanoi, where
hordes of blue coated touts immediately swarmed the bus like flies on meat. We
were anxious to purchase our overnight once a week train ticket to Guilin, China,
something that can only be done in person at the Hanoi train station. In the end it all
worked
out, and we then proceeded to the Sheraton Hanoi, where we cashed some hotel points
and enjoyed the privilege of platinum status.
Ninh Binh was a surprising, last minute decision, a non descript little town just south of Hanoi, noted for it’s limestone karsts set amid the greenest rice paddies you can imagine, certainly a worthwhile 2-3 day stopover. For $16, we rented two drivers with motorbikes for an all day cruise through the countryside, where we stopped by Tam Coc to drift down the Ngo Dong river as it flows through a series of four caves (where people row with their feet), visited an ancient pagoda clawed from a rocky outcrop, walked the grounds of the former capital (Hoa Lu), shopped at the Van Lan embroidery village, and simply digested some of the most amazing landscapes we’ve seen so far on our trip – spectacular rocky outcroppings covered in velvety green vegetation poking up through muddy rice paddies, littered with local farmers in
their conical hats and water buffaloes framing famous Vietnamese montages. Be forewarned to get here soon; regrettably, they’re building a 4 lane road and parallel water canal that soon will weave among these wonderful karsts, allowing tourist buses and theme boats ‘better’ access – however, it’s magical just the way it is now, as you meander down local roads and escape through villages, marveling at the beauty so unique to this area of the world.
Hanoi – ‘The City in a Bend of a River’ - has been an ancient center of commerce for 1000 years and is blessed with many natural lakes and parks. Hoan Kiem Lake lies at the heart of the capital, accented by the island temple of Ngoc Son, with narrow arterial streets radiating northward into the Old and French Quarters, revealing ‘tunnel’ homes (so named for their narrow street frontage to minimize taxes) and allowing timeless glimpses into the past with a savoring for the future, as plaque like hawkers hug the curbs, selling everything from pineapples to cheap Teva knockoffs, and locals
relax over a sip of coffee or a game of cards while frenzied motorbikes swarm the knotted network of streets, everywhere French-colonial structures stand in evidence to bygone days, and upscale restaurants portend the future. We passed the evenings down the street, a cloverleaf crossroad fronted by four local beer (‘Bia Hoi’) establishments, where both tourists and locals spill into the street in their Lilliputian plastic chairs, quaffing fifteen cent pints of local brew, watching the orderly chaos of motorbikes urgently dash through the intersection.
One of the highlights of Hanoi is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the body of this former beloved leader lies in state, and where blocks of worshippers line up daily to pay their respects. Considering that Uncle Ho has been dead since 1969, we’re surprised that after almost fifty years, local Vietnamese still stand in line for a viewing. We finally mounted the steps of the air conditioned building after an hour or so of snaking around and got our first peek at the revered leader, who looked waxen to us, despite what the government says. Uncle Ho also gets a three month hiatus every year, when he’s sent off to Russia for a minor ‘tune-up’.
On another overcast day, we headed down to the wildly imaginative Ho Chi Minh Museum, early in the afternoon under drizzly skies, to see the historic interpretation of his life and struggle to gain independence for Vietnam. When we left the museum after a few hours, not only were we left with an indelible positive impression of the man - his sincerity and genuine love and compassion for his country and it’s people - but the slight drizzle has turned into quite a deluge and we hastily jumped on our number ‘33’ bus heading in the opposite direction, thinking it would be better to get on now and ride the circuit than wait for one going in the opposite direction. Well, the deluge got much worse and as our bus headed downtown the streets became flooded, traffic ground to a halt, and rather than complete the bus route, our driver abandoned his itinerary and told everyone to get off, which we did reluctantly, and although the rain had let up, we had no idea where we were.
Since traffic was at a standstill in the streets, everyone with a motorbike then took the liberty of utilizing the sidewalk for their avenue of escape, so for blocks and blocks you had both streets and sidewalks chock full of motorbikes impatiently trying to edge ahead, while vulnerable pedestrians gingerly pirouetted around them, cautiously avoiding the hot muffler pipes, everyone in one massive free for all, selfishly scanning for a sliver of progress as we all inched toward the center of town. A very nice local kid steered us in the right direction, and we finally cleared the logjam and secured egress to a relatively empty street, where we finally caught our familiar bus ‘33’ back to the hotel, the 15 minute bus ride that transpired into a 3 hour adventure.
While in Hanoi, everyone visits Halong Bay, an amazing bay of water studded with 1,969 limestone karst formations,created thousands of years ago by a series of earthquakes which forcefully thrust rocky formations upwards from the sea, and which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Everyone in town sells 1, 2 or 3 day tours to this destination, with varying degrees of prices relative to your required comfort level. We opted for midrange comfort, so for $200, we had one night on a boat, and two nights at a bizarre hotel on Cat Ba island with MC Escher-like confusing stairwells, most of the meals, kayaking, trekking to a local village for lunch, and a visit to the aptly named ‘Amazing Cave’. It is impressive to cruise and marvel at these wonders of nature, although we were a little disappointed at the
water quality – quite a bit of trash. Honestly, it’s certainly worth seeing, but one night on the boat would probably satisfy your appetite for Halong Bay, and we thought the limestone karsts in the rice paddies of Ninh Binh to be just as dramatic. Just hope for nice weather.
Back in Hanoi after Halong Bay, we moved to a new small hotel downtown in the Old Quarter for the last two nights, before we headed out to China, it being more conveniently located and closer to the urbanity and vitality of the city itself. Did I say urbanity and vitality? When we returned to the hotel the first night around 10:30 PM, we discovered our little hotel so cozily ensconced at the end of this quiet street, away from the motorbikes and frenzy of the Old Quarter, was actually right next door to a dance club, and our room pulsated with the moronic, one chord, heavy techno bass beat, destroying not only our serenity, but certainly the hearing sense of those poor souls inside the club. I like loud music but this was at another whole level of decibels. Mercifully, they ended at 11:30, otherwise, we would have had to move again.
Nonetheless, it was the perfect end to a wonderful and inspiring month long journey through Vietnam, a destination other travelers cautioned would not be friendly – where Americans were not welcomed and crime was prevalent. Yet, the people could not have been friendlier or more welcoming, the culture more inviting and genuine, the attractions more unique.
From sampling the local Bia Hoi brew to marveling at the
startling karsts of Ninh Binh and Halong Bay, from the tailors of Hoi An to the
windswept red sand dunes of Mui An, Vietnam is a welcoming and surprisingly
easy country to visit, with great ethnic food (including the famous weasel
coffee, formulated by force-feeding coffee beans to the animals, then
harvesting the output – which are evidently undigested - yes, they crap out the coffee beans), widespread
transportation, and a list of worthwhile destinations to easily fill a month.
And maybe we’ll be like the many other people who return to pay their respects
to Uncle Ho, just to check once more, how long can Uncle Ho last?
One last thing - we were having problems connecting to our blog in China. Since we're using network connections in China, I'm assigned an IP address that identifies my computer as being used from within China, and thus prevents access to certain websites including our blog. However, there is this nifty piece of software that I purchased that you run prior to surfing the internet that changes your IP address to one from another country (it searches around for available IP addresses, I'm not sure how it figures this out). So, even though I'm sitting in China and using a Chinese connection, it thinks I'm in America or Brazil or Australia or India - this morning I had an Ethiopian connection that was amazingly fast - and that's even more remarkable ! So, screw the Chinese censors, we're back on line..Next posting will be about Guilin in Southern China, then another soon to follow about this captivating little area we're now in - Yangshuo - that deserves it's own blog, since it's going to be another, if not our favorite place...